Photo courtesy of Split Second Services. Jordan and I both won our races at Marty in 2007. 2008 was just as rewarding, with both of us winning again.
In Jordan's race, all the juniors started together (9 older, 6 younger) including Tony Olson, who just finished the Cat 1/2's race. The crosswinds were tough on the kids, and by the time they turned into the headwind, all the younger juniors were dropped, and only 6 older juniors and Jordan remained.
The front group stayed together until they turned towards the long climb. Jordan took the front at the base of the hill, and rode a hard enough tempo, that the rest of the juniors just let him go, knowing they had to do 2 laps, to Jordan's 1. Jordan soloed into the finish all by himself. Carla was marshaling at Corner 3 when Jordan came through solo, and was shocked, wondering where the rest of the juniors were. Well done Jordo.
The field size of the Masters 35+ 1/2's was dramatically reduced due to all of the elder GrandStay and GP riders opting for the Cat1/2's, in order to help their team with the 1st race of the Nature Valley Grand Prix qualifing series.
That left us with a whopping total of 12 racers at the start. The first lap was relatively subdued, until the hill, where we managed to pop 5 riders off the back. 7 of us started the 2nd lap, with Alpasa dropping the next time up the hill, leaving us with 6. Maxwell, Binkowski, Muyres, Christenson, Goblirsh, and myself (2 GSCAs, 2 Silvers, and 2 Loons). We shared the work equally for 2 more laps. Maxwell was dropped on the penultimate climb, leaving 5 of us to battle for the last lap. Binkowski tried sitting out the rotations at first, but with Maxwell gone for good, he soon rejoined.
We came into the final sprint with Christenson leading, followed by Goblirsh, Muyres, myself, and Binkowski last. Christenson jumped at around 350m to go, and we all reacted. Goblirsh cramped up a bit, and Christenson pulled several bike lengths away. Muyres looked back at me to go, since he is on Christenson's team, but I waited for him move first. We launched at around 200m to go. I got around Muyres, and knew it was going to take everything I had to bridge the gap for the win. I had just enough room, and threw my bike, just to make sure. Christenson finished an impressive 2nd, followed by Muyres, Binkowski, and Goblirsh.
Hollywood and a couple others, kept going even after getting dropped on the first lap, and finished all 5 laps. Tenacious indeed. Party on.
2 comments:
Well, its sunday morning and Im having some coffee...wondering what I could have done differently in the sprint. We had a classy group to the end, and was just relieved nobody attacked on the last hill...great win Jim!!
I think you and Chad played your cards very well. You played the perfect teammate, an he almost won. It was a pleasure sharing pulls with you guys all day long.
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